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THE BAND released. The first single, “Wait”, was released on June 1, 1987, but did not make waves for nearly seven months.

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White Lion is a band which needs no introduction with over 12 million copies sold worldwide and countless of no 1 hits, this band has done what it knows best, rocked the fans. It was formed in New York City in 1983 by Danish vocalist Mike Tramp and guitarist Vito Bratta. White Lion was active in the 1980s and early 1990s; the band achieved double platinum status till it suddenly disbanded in 1991 only to resurrect again in 1999. The Beginning After moving from Denmark to New York in 1982, vocalist Mike Tramp (ex-Mabel, ex-Studs) met Brooklyn guitarist Vito Bratta (ex-Dreamer) and decided to form a band. Within a year of him forming White Lion they started playing in the local club circuit and became a rage with its fans. So it came as no surprise when White Lion was 24

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signed by Elektra Records in 1983 and recorded their debut Fight to Survive. However, Elektra was unhappy with the final recording, and after refusing to release the album, terminated their contract. But this did not deter the spirit of Mike Tramp who with the reformed line up came up with an album Fight To Survive which was eventually picked up by RCA and released in Japan in 1984. The small US independent label Grand Slam records finally released Fight To Survive in the US on November 9, 1985. In early 1986, White Lion, with a fictitious “female” member, had a brief part in the Tom Hanks/Shelley Long movie The Money Pit. Early in 1987, the band was signed by Atlantic Records (which ironically is a sister label to Elektra) and on June 21, 1987, their breakthrough album, Pride, was

Success The Pride tour started in July 1987 as White Lion opened for Ace Frehley’s 80s band Frehley’s Comet. The next year and a half was filled with constant touring, opening for such bands as Aerosmith, Ozzy Osbourne, Stryper, KISS and in January 1988 White Lion landed the opening slot for AC/DC on their Blow Up Your Video American tour. While touring with AC/DC, the Pride album and “Wait” single finally charted, due in no small part to MTV airing the “Wait” music video in regular rotation - nearly seven months after the single’s release. “Wait” hit #8 on the singles chart, while Pride hit #11 on the album charts. Pride would remain on the top 200 Billboard album charts for a full year. In August 1988, the album’s second single “Tell Me” hit #58. Around the time this single was released, White Lion played at the Ritz club in New York City. Like Guns N’ Roses before them, White Lion’s show at the Ritz was filmed and later aired on MTV. The Pride album’s third single, a gentle acoustic ballad titled “When the Children Cry”, made it all the way to #3 with heavy MTV rotation, making Pride one of about 20 hard rock albums to ever have multiple top 10 hits. The success of “When the Children Cry” would eventually push sales of Pride over the two million mark. In addition, Vito Bratta was recognized for his instrumental talents by racking up Best New Guitarist

awards with both Guitar World magazine and Guitar For The Practicing Musician magazine. In August 1989, White Lion released their third album, Big Game, a musically eclectic follow-up to Pride that featured the singles “Little Fighter”, “Cry for Freedom”, and a cover of Golden Earring’s “Radar Love”. The album quickly went gold. After two years of writing and recording, the new album, Mane Attraction was released. During the recording sessions for this album, their record company allowed the band to make exactly the album they wanted to. This according to many was their best album and though the grunge revolution was making waves it managed to hold its own with huge hits such as ‘Farewell to you’, ‘You are all I need’ and ‘Till death do us part’. This was the last we were to hear of them. The split Greg D’Angelo and James LoMenzo left the band soon after the album’s release, citing “musical differences”, but White Lion carried on with bassist Tommy T-Bone Caradonna and drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Suicidal Tendencies, Y&T, Fiona). After briefly touring in support of Mane Attraction, Tramp and Bratta decided to call it a day. Unlike most bands of their genre, White Lion recorded occasional songs that addressed social or political issues such as apartheid (“Cry for Freedom”) and the effect of divorce on children (“Broken Home”). The song “Little Fighter” was about the Rainbow Warrior, a ship owned by the environmental group Greenpeace that was illegally destroyed by French terrorists. This concern for political and social issues was also hinted at in the cover art to their album Big Game, which featured a lion’s head hidden in tall grass with the White House in the background. Return of the lions But with continued airtime in the radio circuit and the re-emergence of good old rock, the demand for white lion was getting stronger everyday so Mike and the guys who believed in the love and appreciation of the fans came back with the return of the White Lion. Over the years Mike had gone solo and come out with quite a few successful solo albums but the call of the fans made him realize that this was what he wanted to be. White Lion has been touring regularly with sold out shows in America and also in Europe and Australia. Recently band appeared at Rocklahoma in Pryor, Ok on July 13, 2007 with Poison, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Slaughter, Y&T, Gypsy, Dirty Penny, Greg Leon Invasion and Zendozer, Warrant and Steelheart. After this they also toured the US. A new studio album entitled “Return of the Pride” was released on March 14, 2008 which has been critically acclaimed by both the critics and fans alike. As the band says about its hard core fan following ‘you are all I need’. August 08

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